What One Thing Makes You Different?
Do you want to be successful in real estate? Whether it is sales, investing, or a combination, the fact is all you really need is one point of differentiation to give yourself an unfair advantage over your competition.
I began thinking about this concept thanks to a podcast I came across about wholesaling. You may be thinking I meant a podcast on real estate wholesaling, however this was about wholesaling in the financial services industry. Now, I am going to be completely honest here and tell you that the reason I stumbled upon this podcast was because I really did think it applied to wholesaling as a form of real estate investing! Cindy and I have created a new investment company (more on that in future posts), and one of the facets will include wholesaling properties to investors.
As soon as the podcast started, I realized it was not about real estate wholesaling. However, one of my mentors has always said that he spends a lot of time learning about other industries, and then thinks about how to utilize what he learned by applying it to real estate, so that is exactly what I did.
The guest in the podcast was a man by the name of Scott McKain. Scott is a world-renowned public speaker, author, and owner of a consulting and training company, whose main focus is in creating the ultimate customer experience. In the podcast, McKain talks about a book he wrote called The 7 Tenets Of Taxi Terry, in which he tells the story of an unlikely character known as, well known as Taxi Terry! McKain was on his way to give a speech in Jacksonville, FLorida, and was having a rough day traveling. As Mckain makes his way to the front of the line at the taxi stand, this taxi driver pulls up, jumps out and points at him, and says something along the lines of: “Are you ready for the best cab ride of your life?!” He then refers to McKain as “Mr. Mckain” as he grabs his luggage. McKain asks Terry how he knew his name, and Terry mentions that he saw it on the luggage tag, and thought he would put the information to good use.
In a world where all the taxis look-alike, and there is not too much that distinguishes one driver from the next, Taxi Terry found a way to stand out. He raised his own bar of expectations, thus raising the bar for his customers as well. “The best cab ride of your life” is a bold statement. By setting the bar high, and delivering on his promise, Taxi Terry is able to stand out amongst his competitors with ease.
McKain goes on to tell the story of Enterprise Rental Car. Enterprise wanted to differentiate themselves from all the other car rental places. They made a list of every single point of contact they had with a customer. They then decided that they were going to make just one change that would set them apart. What did they come up with? “Enterprise. We pick you up.” It was that simple, they brought you the car, instead of you going to them. A Ford Focus is a Ford Focus regardless of where you rent it from. Competing on price is a sure way to drive your margins into the ground. Enterprise found their one differentiator.
How many agents do you know that compete solely by lowering their commissions?
Well, at least you are not one of them, right? RIGHT??
One final nugget that McKain talks about in this podcast was about the European arm of UBS. A report was created showing that the European division of UBS had a much better retention of high net worth investors than their American counterparts. One of the reasons cited? C’mon, take a guess. Was it lower fees? How about a willingness of the reps to blow up their expense accounts in order to “buy” the business? The answer may floor you…ready…coffee. Yep, you read that correctly, coffee. It came down to having notes in their client database on how each individual investor took his or her coffee, so that when the investor came to the office, the coffee was prepared and waiting for them exactly how they liked it. You see, they took the time to truly get to know their customer. They built the relationship by showing they paid attention. Subconsciously, do you think the investor started to believe they would also pay attention to their portfolio if they kept their money with UBS? Absolutely.
Doing what you say, when you say you are going to do it, is one way to differentiate yourself from the competition. It’s simple, just not easy. As salespeople, we have a tendency to over promise, and under deliver. we need to make strides to reverse that and under promise and over deliver. This alone, will differentiate you.
Now I challenge each and every one of us to look at our business model, just like Taxi Terry, Enterprise Rental Car, and UBS Europe did. You don’t need to make radical changes in every aspect of your business. As we have seen, you only need to make one point of differentiation in order to not only set yourself apart, but also allow yourselves and your businesses to be seen as industry leaders. With that type of authority comes more repeat business, which is easier and less expensive than new business. It could also mean a higher level of profit margin to your bottom line. Yet, there is one aspect that is an intangible, and may truly be the best value add of all…with the added authority, you gain trust. Trust from your peers, and more importantly, trust from the consumer. At a time when more and more agents are joining this industry for the promise of a quick buck, you and I will stand out, and our clients will be much better off because of it.
What one thing will you implement to be different from the masses and make yourself stand out? If you need some ideas to help jump start the process, I suggest you read Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable, By Seth Godin.